Hip Tips: Music Notes

Dallas-based Hand Drawn Records will release its debut compilation CD on Saturday, Apr. 14, with a celebratory concert featuring three HDR artists –– Fort Worth/Dallas’ Exit 380, Fort Worth’s Secret Ghost Champion, and Dallas’ Abby NormL –– and Dallas’ Always the Alibi at Lola’s Saloon (2736 W. 6th St., 817-877-0666). Doors to the all-ages show open at 8 p.m., and the $8 cover charge includes a copy of the CD.

Bedrooms and Backdoors: Friends and Neighbors features 11 tracks, all of them either previously unreleased or recorded exclusively for the compilation, and will be available for free download via iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and more. In addition to Exit 380 and SGC, three other Fort Worth outfits –– Boomin’ Gen Mills, Fou, and Igneous Grimm –– have contributed songs to the album.

Exit 380′s track was recorded with producer Salim Nourallah at his Pleasantry Lane Studios in Dallas. Igneous Grimm’s was recorded on the band’s six-channel board, and SGC’s is a deep cut.

“The idea originally spawned to have a family tree/communal vibe connecting all of these artists which have either worked together in the past or are currently working together,” said HDR’s Chris Whitehead. “We’re not making a dime off of this project. It was made solely to get some much needed exposure to these artists.”

R.I.P. Phantom Caste
Even though the Fort Worth space-rockers released a stellar album last year, they’ve unplugged their amps for good. “Things just got really confused the past year,” said frontman Paul Cooksey. “All the lineup changes and too many opposing visions: just was a real mess.”

However, Cooksey is working with the band’s original guitarist and bassist. “I had to take the chance on working with them again, as it was the creative core during our best times,” he said. “It’s gonna be a few months, but this new project is gonna be a lot of fun.”

Rotten Roots
A new band of three headless Fort Worthians and a drummer. Check out these two tracks. Kind of like a Southern-fried version of UFO (minus the shredding).

Best for Music?
As you’ve probably seen, Fort Worth is ranked one of the top 10 cities in the country for music outside of Nashville, New York City, and L.A. Some non-Fort Worthians have whined online that Austin should be included. Two things: 1.) Fine. And 2.) if you read the article, you’ll notice that the writer is coming from a mostly countrified perspective, this viewpoint underlined by the writer’s decision to seek for expert opinion a country musician … from Austin. Now I’m not claiming to know everything there is about the state capital, but I do know that Fort Worth’s Texas Music/Red Dirt scene is pretty strong, courtesy of Billy Bob’s Texas, the Stockyards, 95.9-FM The Ranch, and a solid core of solid artists, namely Austin Allsup, Scott Copeland, Charla Corn, Joey Green, and Phil Hamilton.